Abstracts of the Speakers / Konuşmacı Özetleri
Dopamine Hypothesis of Mania
John Cookson1
DPhil FRCP FRCPsych, Consultant Psychiatrist, Royal London Hospital; East London Foundation Trust
1
Ya­zış­ma Ad­re­si / Add­ress rep­rint re­qu­ests to: Dr. John Cookson, DPhil FRCP FRCPsych, Consultant Psychiatrist, Royal London Hospital; East London Foundation Trust
Elekt­ro­nik pos­ta ad­re­si / E-ma­il add­ress: [email protected]
Journal of Mood Disorders 2013;3(Suppl. 1):S1-S3
The discovery of dopamine and its pathways
Dopamine (DA) was first synthesized in 1910 from
3,4-dihydroxy phenyl alanine (DOPA) by Barger and Ewens at
Wellcome Laboratories in London. It is a cathecholamine and in
the 1940s Blaschko in Cambridge proposed that DA was a
precursor in synthesis of the cat-echolamine neurotransmitters
noradrenaline (norepinephrine) and adrenaline (epinephrine).
In 1957 it was shown to be present in the brain with other
catecholamines (1). In 1958, Carlsson discovered the function of
dopamine a neurotransmitter (2), while studying the action of
reserpine, isolated in 1952 from the root of Rauwolfia, used
traditionally in India for the treatment of insanity. Reserpine
irreversibly blocks the vesicular monoamine transporter, thus
depleting neuronal serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine. In
mammals it produces loss of movement or “akinesia”, a symptom
of Parkinson’s disease. The degree of akinesia induced by
reserpine correlated most closely with the depletion of dopamine,
and could be reversed by L-dopa.
In Vienna, Hornykiewicz who had worked with Blaschko,
measured dopamine in Parkinson’s disease brains, and in 1960
reported depletion of dopamine in the corpus striatum in these
brains, and later postulated that striatal dopamine deficiency
accounts for the motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease (3).
Carlsson demonstrated dopamine was concentrated in the
basal ganglia. Using the technique of monoamine
histofluorescence, dopamine pathways were mapped in the
brain including the nigrostriatal path¬way, from A9 neurons in
the substantia nigra to the corpus striatum (4). In 1967, Cotzias in
New York developed a technique, raising the dose of DOPA
gradually, up to 16 grams per day, to treat Parkinson’s disease (5).
Thus the role of dopamine in movement control and Parkinson’s
disease was established by 1967.
Catecholamine hypothesis of mania
Schildkraut (1965) proposed a catecholamine hypothesis of
affective disorders, in which depression was postulated to result
from “deficiency” of “catecholamines particularly
norepinephrine” at “functionally important adrenergic receptor
Journal of Mood Disorders Volume: 3, Supplement: 1, 2013 - www.jmood.org
sites in the brain”, and elation (mania) resulted from an excessive
activity of catecholamines (6). He emphasised the role of
norepinephrine and not dopamine.
One of the supports of this hypothesis was the effect of
amphetamines which release catecholamines. Low doses of
amphetamines produce a state resembling mild mania but with
reduced hunger and appetite and anomalous endocrine effects (7).
Dopamine agonists, such as bromocriptine, used to treat
prolactinomas can lead to psychotic states, including mania (8).
Likewise, a manic episode may be triggered by amphetamine in
predisposed individuals (9), and l‑dopa can trigger mania in
individuals with a bipolar predisposition (10).
The tranquilising and depressant effect of reserpine in man
was another piece of Schildkraut’s evidence. Furthermore alphamethyl para-tyrosine, which inhibits the rate-limiting step in
catecholamine synthesis, reduces the severity of mania (11); and
depleting l-dopa and lowering brain catecholamines, by ingesting
a drink of branched chain amino acids, improves mania (12).
Antipsychotics in mania and schizophrenia
The antimanic effect of antipsychotics became another
foundation of the catecholamine hypothesis of mania, but there
was considerable misunderstanding of the role of antipsychotics
in mania until the era of newer antipsychotics stimulated
research into their effects.
Dopamine hypothesis of schizophrenia
Early antipsychotics such as chlorpromazine and haloperidol
have varied pharmacological actions including antagonism of
norepinephrine. However the main mechanism common to all
antipsychotics was discovered by Carlsson and Lindqvist in 1963,
showing that they increase the release of metabolites of
dopamine and epinephrine, and speculating the mechanism to
be blockade of the receptors for dopamine (13). Van Rossum in
1966 articulated the hypothesis that dopamine pathways may be
overactive in schizophrenia (14).
The importance of dopamine receptor blockade for
antipsychotics was confirmed in 1974 by Seeman (15), showing
S1
Dopamine hypothesis of mania
with Creese that clinical doses of antipsychotics for schizophrenia
correlated closely with their ability to block D2 receptors (16).
The hypothesis was refined by Davis et al in 1991, proposing
that schizophrenia is characterized by frontal hypodopaminergia
resulting in striatal hyperdopaminergia (17).
The dopamine hypothesis of schizophrenia in 2012
emphasises excessive presynaptic striatal dopamine release (18).
Dopamine hypothesis of mania
Chlorpromazine was the most widely investigated
antipsychotic in early comparative trials in mania and is
obviously sedative in its effects. In New York in 1990, haloperidol
(38% of prescriptions) was the most widely used antipsychotic in
mania, followed by fluphenazine, and chlorpromazine (19).
However, drugs with more specific dopamine-receptor
blocking actions have antimanic properties, although these
drugs are less sedative, being without blocking actions at
histamine or noradrenaline receptors. It was reported in 1976
that the selective dopamine receptor antagonist pimozide
possesses antimanic activity (9,20). This suggested a
dopaminergic mechanism (9). Cookson and Silverstone
hypothesised that mania may result from overactivity of
dopamine in certain brain pathways (20).
In a comparative trial, pimozide was no less efficacious than
chlorpromazine in improving the severity of mania over two
weeks. It was suggested that the dopamine pathways involved in
mania may be different from those in schizophrenia and include
the nucleus accumbens (21); dopamine agonists applied there
stimulated locomotion (22).
Mechanisms of antimanic actions of antipsychotics
Antipsychotics owe their antimanic effects mainly to
blockade of dopamine receptors but additionally to some extent
to blockade of noradrenaline at alpha-1 receptors (eg haloperidol)
(21,23), and blockade of histamine at H-1 receptors (eg
chlorpromazine) (24).
Some newer antipsychotics (e.g. olanzapine, quetiapine)
share these actions, and are also potent blockers of serotonin
5HT-2 receptors, but are selective for sub-types of dopamine
receptors; others (amisulpride) block only sub-types of dopamine
receptors. It cannot be assumed that drugs effective in
schizophrenia will be effective in mania or vice versa.
Antipsychotics in mania: Patterns of symptom
improvement: sedative, antipsychotic or antimanic?
It had been suggested that antipsychotics owe their effects in
mania either to non-specific sedation, or to combating psychotic
symptoms. However, this view fails to recognise that non-sedative
dopamine-blocking drugs can improve mania; these would now
include aripiprazole and ziprasidone. In studies of olanzapine,
risperidone, quetiapine, and aripiprazole, the improvement in
S2
mania occurred in patients with or without psychotic symptoms
(25). When individual symptoms of mania were analysed, drug
treatment (with olanzapine, quetiapine and presumably the other
antipsychotics) improved the whole range of symptoms (including
elation, flight of ideas, grandiosity, sexual interest, irritability,
aggression, general appearance and insight, as well as the items
most sensitive to sedation: insomnia, overactivity and pressure of
speech). These findings lead to the inevitable conclusion that the
drugs are not just antipsychotic, but also antimanic (25).
The speed of action and size of effect of antipsychotics makes
them especially useful for control of emergent (hypomanic)
symptoms (25) and in the case of haloperidol for acute
tranquillisation in severe mania (24).
Antipsychotics in schizophrenia and mania
The so-called “atypical” antipsychotics were screened in
animal models to have fewer extrapyramidal or Parkinsonian
side effects than the older drugs. The “atypicals” share no other
quality than this. Meta-analyses show small but real superiority
in efficacy (26), and effectiveness (27) for some new drugs
(particularly clozapine) over older ones in schizophrenia.
The differences are more striking when the treatment of mania
is analysed. In our own experience the benzamide drug,
remoxipride, did not bring about sustained improvement in
mania in doses shown to be effective in schizophrenia (24). A
multitreatment meta-analysis (28) confirms the impression from
individual randomised controlled trials (25) that no atypical
antipsychotic is superior in efficacy to haloperidol in mania and
some, such as quetiapine, aripiprazole, asenapine and ziprasidone,
are distinctly inferior. All produce fewer extrapyramidal side
effects than haloperidol and are therefore more acceptable to
patients. In addition, some atypicals are associated with less postmanic depression, which can be another manifestation of
extrapyramidal effects (akinetic depression) (25).
Thus it is likely that the DA pathways and receptor subtypes
involved in mania are different from those involved in
schizophrenia.
The function of dopamine
The midbrain dopamine neurones have three component
pathways: a dorsal nigro-striatal pathway from the A9 area (substantia
nigra) to the corpus striatum, the meso-limbic pathway from the A10
area to limbic areas including the nucleus accumbens and the frontal
cortex (also called the meso-frontal pathway), and a ventral pathway
from area A8, behind the red nucleus, to the “extended amygdala”
(amygdala, ventral striatum, hippocampus) (29). Loop circuitry from
the nucleus accumbens influences ascending dopamine projections
to the other areas of the striatum (30).
The DA projections areas of the three main dopamine
pathways are also the site of termination of glutamate fibres from
areas of the cerebral cortex that complete neuronal “loops” from
the DA rich areas through thalamic nuclei.
Journal of Mood Disorders Volume: 3, Supplement: 1, 2013 - www.jmood.org
J. Cookson
DA systems have roles in motivational salience and reward
prediction. Activity in DA cells recorded electrophysiologically by
Schultz showed no clear covariations with movements, but
revealed activation after reward-related events and attentioninducing sensory stimuli. When a conditioned stimulus is
established, cell firing occurs in response to the conditioned
stimulus rather than to the reward. Moreover, failure of the reward
to follow the CS, is associated with reduction in DA cell firing (31).
Berridge and Robinson concluded that “dopamine neurones
mediate motivational salience, whereby neutral events become
attention-grabbing and capture thought and behaviour” (32).
These responses occur in similar manner in A8, A9, and A10 in a
range of behavioral situations but as the pattern of responding shifts
from immediate reward to anticipation and cues, so the localisation
of DA cell activation shifts dorsally from the ventral area to more
dorsal striatum. Thus enjoyment of music involves DA release in the
caudate during the anticipation and in the nucleus accumbens
during the peak emotional response (33). A similar dorsal shift in DA
release occurs during repeated doses of amphetamine (34).
Everitt and Robbins reviewed the development of addictive
behaviours. Whereas the initiation of addiction involves voluntary or
impulsive drug use and an initial hedonic response, mediated
through prefrontal cortex and ventral areas of the dopamine system,
with repetition the behaviour becomes habitual with loss of control,
and more dorsal parts of the dopamine system become recruited.
Eventually the habit becomes a compulsive behaviour in which the
goal becomes relief of withdrawal symptoms with striatal rather than
cortical control over drug taking (35).
Dopamine pathways in schizophrenia and mania
Whereas the dopamine hypothesis of schizophrenia
proposes abnormal activity in the striatum and the prefrontal
cortex, the hypothesis for mania implies a different anatomy. It is
speculated that whereas the initial hypomanic stage is mediated
by ventral dopamine paths such as the A10 projection to the
nucleus accumbens and a loop to the prefrontal cortex, during
severe mania hyperactivity shifts to more dorsal nigrostriatal
paths. This shift may correspond to the development of psychotic
features or catatonic symptoms. Hence mild mania may respond
to an atypical antipsychotic with low propensity to impair
extrapyramidal function, but severe or psychotic mania requires
more potent antipsychotics that are associated with
extrapyramidal side effects.
References:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
Montagu KA. Catechol compounds in rat tissues and in brains of different
animals. Nature1957;180:244-45.
Carlsson A, Lindqvist M, Magnusson T. 3,4-Dihydroxyphenylalanine and
5-hydroxytroptophan as reserpine antagonists. Nature 1957;180:1200.
Hornykiewicz O. Dopamine (3-hydroxytyramine) and brain function.
Pharmacol Rev 1966;18:925-64.
Anden NE, Carlssson A, Dahlstrom A, Fuxe K, Hillarp NA, Larsson K.
Demonstration and mapping out of nigro-neostriatal dopamine neurons.
Life Sci1964; 3:523-30.
Cotzias GC, Papavasiliou PS, Gellene R. Modification of parkinsonism –
chronic treatment with L-dopa. NEJM 1969;280:337-45.
Schildkraut JJ. The catecholamine hypothesis of affective disorders: a
review of supporting evidence. Am J Psychiatry 1965;122:509–22.
Jacobs D & Silverstone T. Dextroamphetamine-induced arousal in human
subjects as a model for mania. Psychological Medicine 1986; 16: 323-9.
Turner T, Cookson J C, Wass JAH, et al Psychotic reactions during treatment
of pituitary tumours with dopamine agonists. BMJ 1984;289,1101-3.
Gerner RH, Post RM, Bunney WE Jr. A dopaminergic mechanism in mania.
Am J Psychiatry 1976;133:1177–80.
Bunney WE, Gerson E S, Murphy D L & Goodwin F K. Psychobiological
and pharmacological studies of manic-depressive illness. Journal of
Psychiatric Research 1972;9:207.
Brodie HK, Murphy DL, Goodwin FK, Bunney WE Jr. Catecholamines and
mania: the effect of alpha-methyl-para-tyrosine on manic behavior and
catecholamine metabolism. Clin Pharmacol Ther 1971;12:218–24.
Scarna A, Gijsman HJ, McTavish SF, et al. Effects of a branched-chain
amino acid drink in mania. Br J Psychiatry 2003;182:210–3.
Carlsson A & Lindqvist M. Effect of chlorpromazine or haloperidol on
formation of 3-methoxytyramine and normetanephrine in mouse brain.
Acta Pharmacol Toxicol1963;20:140-4.
Van Rossum JM The significance of dopamine-receptor blockade for the
mechanism of action of neuroleptic drugs. Arch Int Pharmacodyn Ther
1966;160:492-4.
Seeman P, Lee T, Chau-Wong M, and Wong K. Antipsychotic drug doses
and neuroleptic/dopamine receptors. Nature 1976;261:717- 9.
Creese I, Burt, DR, and Snyder SH. Dopamine receptor binding predicts
clinical and pharmacological potencies of antischizophrenic drugs.
Science 1976;192:484.
Davis KL, Kahn RS, Ko G, Davidson M. Dopamine in schizophrenia: a
review and reconceptualization. Am J Psychiatry 1991;148:1474–86.
Howes OD, Kambeitz J, Kim E, Stahl D, Slifstein M, Abi-Dargham A, Kapur
S. The Nature of Dopamine Dysfunction in Schizophrenia and What This
Means for Treatment: Meta-analysis of Imaging Studies. Arch Arch Gen
Psychiatry. 2012;69:776-86.
Journal of Mood Disorders Volume: 3, Supplement: 1, 2013 - www.jmood.org
19. Chou JC, Zito JM, Vitrai J, et al. Neuroleptics in acute mania: a
pharmacoepidemiologic study. Annals of Pharmacotherapy 1996;30:1396-8.
20. J Cookson, T Silverstone. 5-Hydroxytryptamine and dopamine pathways
in mania: a pilot study of fenfluramine and pimozide. Br J Clin Pharmacol
1976;3:942–3.
21. Cookson J, Silverstone T, Wells B. Double-blind comparative clinical trial of
pimozide and chlorpromazine in mania. Acta Psych Scand 1981;64:38-397.
22. Kelly PH, Seviour PW, Iversen SD. Amphetamine and apomorphine
responses in the rat following 6-OHDA lesions of the nucleus accumbens
septi and corpus striatum. Brain Res. 1975;94:507–22.
23. Cookson, JC. The neuroendocrinology of mania. Journal of Affective
Disorders1985; 8: 233–41.
24. Cookson JC. Use of Antipsychotic Drugs and Lithium in Mania. Br J
Psychiatry 2001;178:41:148-56.
25. Cookson JC. Atypical antipsychotics in bipolar disorder: the treatment of
mania. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment 2008;14:330-8.
26. Leucht S, Davis JM. Are all antipsychotic drugs the same? Br J Psychiatry
2011;199:269–71.
27.Cookson JC. Triangulating views on antipsychotics. Advances in
Psychiatric Treatment 2008;14:17.
28. Cipriani A, Barbui C, Salanti G, et al. Comparative efficacy and acceptability
of antimanic drugs in acute mania: a multiple-treatments meta-analysis.
Lancet 2011;378:1306–15.
29.Zahm DS. The dopaminergic projection system, basal forebrain
macrosystems, and conditioned stimuli. CNS Spect 2008;13:32-40.
30. Haber SN, Fudge JL & McFarland NR. Striatonigral pathways in primates
form an ascending spiral from the shell to the dorsolateral striatum. J.
Neurosci. 2000;20,2369–82.
31. Schultz W, Dayan P, Montague PR. A neural substrate of prediction and
reward. Science 1997;275:1593–9.
32. Berridge KC, Robinson TE. What is the role of dopamine in reward:
hedonic impact, reward learning, or incentive salience? Brain Res Brain
Res Rev. 1998;28:309–69
33. Boileau I, Dagher A, Leyton M, Gunn RN, Baker GB, Diksic M, Benkelfat
C. Modeling Sensitization to Stimulants in Humans. An [11C]Raclopride/
Positron Emission Tomography Study in Healthy Men. Arch Gen Psychiatry
2006;63:1386-95.
34. Salimpoor VN, Benovoy M, Larcher K, Dagher A, Zatorre RJ. Anatomically
distinct dopamine release during anticipation and experience of peak
emotion to music. Nature Neuroscience 2011;14, 257–62.
35. Everitt BJ & Robbins TW. Neural systems of reinforcement for drug
addiction: from actions to habits to compulsion. Nature Neuroscience
2005;8,1481–9.
S3